The present invention relates to biomedical devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a guidewire-type device for use in accessing body areas such as fallopian tubes.
Flexible wires which can be guided into and/or along passageways within a body have a number of uses in medicine. With regard to human bodies, one particular application is that the flexible wire may be introduced into a passageway such as a fallopian tube, vagina, circulatory vessel, or biliary vessel. Typically, in such applications, the flexible wire is first introduced into a catheter lumen. Thereafter, the combination of the flexible wire and the catheter are guided as a unit along a passageway toward a target site. Often, the target site is located some distance along a passageway, or is located at a site along a passageway which is only a potential space. Examples of passageways which can be potential spaces include the vagina and the fallopian tubes.
Commonly, flexible wires are advanced along a passageway only by push-pull linear motion; torquing of a guidewire is used to orient the wire, particularly for wires which have an angled distal tip. Unfortunately, due to the minute dimensions and delicacy of the passageways that are involved in biomedical procedures, movement of traditional guidewires by push-pull force only is sometimes insufficient to advance the wire, especially when it becomes located at a tortuous site, and encounters difficulty passing through this site.
Heretofore, guidewires have utilized small diameter coils at their distal-most tip. In the construction of distal coils for guidewires of this type, the coils are typically constructed of narrow diameter wire coiled in a tightly spaced configuration. Such coils have been utilized to maintain flexibility of the guidewire at the distal tip, while attempting to avoid a physical structure which could puncture the tissues of the channel through which the guidewire is passing. Again, these wires could only be advanced using a push-pull motion.
In difficult situations, such as blocked or tortuous passage (as exemplified by fallopian tubes), typical guidewires cannot be advanced using push-pull force. This limitation could lead to surgery or other expensive interventions to treat or access these body areas. Thus, alternative devices and methods are needed to provide access to these sites.